The latest legal maneuver in a months-long dispute invoking competing definitions of Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination, saw the Department of Justice file suit against Virginias Loudoun County School Board, accusing the school district of discriminating against two Christian students who were suspended after objecting to a transgender student using a boys locker room. Loudoun Countys decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Departments (DOJ) Civil Rights Division wrote, announcing the lawsuit. Related Students suspended for bullying trans teens as Trump cracks down on school for supporting trans kids The suit is based on differing interpretations of Title IX, which has been turned upside down by the Trump administration in its attempted erasure of transgender identity in the United States.Now the DOJ is injecting religious discrimination into the dispute. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The Biden administration expanded the definition of Title IX to include discrimination protections for transgender individuals; a series of executive orders has attempted to strip those protections by declaring the existence of only two biological sexes: male and female, with the threat of withdrawing federal funding from states and local entities as a cudgel.The DOJs lawsuit is based on actions the Loudoun County School Board took in April, after a trans athlete recorded two fellow students in a boys locker room making disparaging comments about him. Heather Bardot, attorney for the school board, said in an October 6 opposition to a motion in a related proceeding that the transgender male student was tired of the relentless harassment and decided to record the boys in the locker room to have proof in a formal Title IX complaint he filed just a few days later, Inside NOVA, reports.After an investigation, the school board announced in August that the two students would be suspended for 10 days, saying they had violated its policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual harassment and assault in the districts educational programs and activities.In the DOJs telling, the two boys were suspended on the basis of sex-based discrimination and were made to submit to a Comprehensive Student Support Plan that further violates the boys right to free exercise of religion at school. The DOJ said that, as Christians, the boys religious beliefs require them to use biologically accurate pronouns and use sex-segregated facilities. In May, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R), who has supportedtransgender sports bansandrestrictions on gender-affirming care, opened aseparate inquiryinto how the school district was handling its investigation into the locker room incident.Miyaresreferred the caseto the Trump administrationsDepartment of EducationandDepartment of Justice, both of which have increasingly been used to target transgender communities.By July, the DOJs Office of Civil Rightsconcludedthat the school district was in violation of the Trump administrations interpretation of Title IX, for basing same-sex facility access on gender identity rather than biological sex. The DOJ gave the school district 10 days to reverse its policy.The school board refused, voting to maintain access for trans students.In response, the administration has ramped up pressure on the district, moving toward withholding tens of millions of dollars from the state for Loudoun County and other school districts, citing noncompliance with the administrations anti-trans diktats. The new lawsuit relies on an argument that the school district violated the religious rights of the suspended students in violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. While the U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled specifically on the Trump administrations definition of Title IX when it comes to education, it did state in its 2024 ruling in U.S. v Skrmetti, upholding Tennessees ban on gender-affirming care for minors, that a persons transgender identification is distinct from their biological sex, a decision the Trump administration has cited in its effort to ban trans students from sports and same-sex bathroom and locker facilities.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.